Furt****ler?
Posted by: u5227470736789439 on 12 December 2006
Dear Friends,
The second great conductor of orchestras that I became aware of as a child was Wilhelm Furtwangler. The first was Otto Klemperer.
The first LP of Furtwangler's conducting that I encountered was Beethoven Eroica Symphony played by the VPO on HMV. I prefered it to the LP which I had bought of Klemperer [in 1963 stereo], which seemed dogged in comparison to an eleven year old! Next up was the noble HMV LP of Menuhin and Furtwangler [with the Philharmonia] which seeemed more or less perfect to me. Obviously I had no idea of the history, and just took these musical expositions as they came.
Over the years I tried to get an LP of Furtwangler's recording for myself, but it was not till I had a fortnight in France in 1984 that I obtained what I thought was this recording again. It proved to be the famous 1944 VPO perfomance recorded by the Reichsrundfunk on the instruction of the ProMi, who wanted to preserve the thought that music continued though the German and Austrian concert halls and theatres had been closed, because of the Allied air raid risk. I had no idea of these facts in 1984.
Since then I became increasingly fascinated by Furtwangler the musician, and the man. The more I delved, the more I found that I could hardly sypathise with his decision to remain so long in a country that was run according to the lines of a Medieval tyrany.
However I really thought that though he was on balance, and with hindsight, wrong to have remained active, making the necessary compromises that he did, both human and artistic, that his nobility of spirit and the very strength and originality of his musical view somehow overcame these doubts.
In the last month having actually visited Majdanek, I can no longer hold this view. I still think that Furtwangler remained true to himself, but that there is something rather creepy about the actual Reichrundfunk recordings, great though they are as music making, but rather the strangeness of the juxtaposition of such music and such music making in the awful conditions imposed by the Nazi regime.
I have no problem with the commercial recordings up to 1938, where the ultimate aim of the regime could not have been entirely apparent to Furtwangler, but to remain after 1942, at least, seems rather inexplicable to me. He could easily have remained in neutral Sweden on any number of visits there by him, giving concerts. It can have been no secret what was going on in the Death Camps. On the other hand I think think this was a mistake on Furtwangler's part rather than a sin. Thus I find no problem with his continued activities in the free world after the end of hostilities. Inthat way I cannot think he was criminal rather than deeply foolish in his actions.
Is this a reasonable position, and does anyone else here struggle with this issue?
Kindest regards from Fredrik
The second great conductor of orchestras that I became aware of as a child was Wilhelm Furtwangler. The first was Otto Klemperer.
The first LP of Furtwangler's conducting that I encountered was Beethoven Eroica Symphony played by the VPO on HMV. I prefered it to the LP which I had bought of Klemperer [in 1963 stereo], which seemed dogged in comparison to an eleven year old! Next up was the noble HMV LP of Menuhin and Furtwangler [with the Philharmonia] which seeemed more or less perfect to me. Obviously I had no idea of the history, and just took these musical expositions as they came.
Over the years I tried to get an LP of Furtwangler's recording for myself, but it was not till I had a fortnight in France in 1984 that I obtained what I thought was this recording again. It proved to be the famous 1944 VPO perfomance recorded by the Reichsrundfunk on the instruction of the ProMi, who wanted to preserve the thought that music continued though the German and Austrian concert halls and theatres had been closed, because of the Allied air raid risk. I had no idea of these facts in 1984.
Since then I became increasingly fascinated by Furtwangler the musician, and the man. The more I delved, the more I found that I could hardly sypathise with his decision to remain so long in a country that was run according to the lines of a Medieval tyrany.
However I really thought that though he was on balance, and with hindsight, wrong to have remained active, making the necessary compromises that he did, both human and artistic, that his nobility of spirit and the very strength and originality of his musical view somehow overcame these doubts.
In the last month having actually visited Majdanek, I can no longer hold this view. I still think that Furtwangler remained true to himself, but that there is something rather creepy about the actual Reichrundfunk recordings, great though they are as music making, but rather the strangeness of the juxtaposition of such music and such music making in the awful conditions imposed by the Nazi regime.
I have no problem with the commercial recordings up to 1938, where the ultimate aim of the regime could not have been entirely apparent to Furtwangler, but to remain after 1942, at least, seems rather inexplicable to me. He could easily have remained in neutral Sweden on any number of visits there by him, giving concerts. It can have been no secret what was going on in the Death Camps. On the other hand I think think this was a mistake on Furtwangler's part rather than a sin. Thus I find no problem with his continued activities in the free world after the end of hostilities. Inthat way I cannot think he was criminal rather than deeply foolish in his actions.
Is this a reasonable position, and does anyone else here struggle with this issue?
Kindest regards from Fredrik